Combined air jacket and tuning mechanism for resonators



1946 l. E. MOUROMTSEFF ETAL v I 2,394,396

COMBINED AIR JACKET AND TUNING MECHANISM FOR RESONATORS Filed July 18, 1941 5 Shets-Sheet 1 INVENTQRSI- 11E. naaranr zrr 1 a t /v. p xV/CK ATTORNEY 1946- E. MOUROMTSEFF ETAL 2,394,396

COMBINED AIR JACKET AND TUNING MECHANISM FOR RESONATORS Filed July 18, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS .r. E MOU/FOMT'JE'FF IV/V/C/C ATTORNEY 1946- l. E. MOUROMTSEFF ETAL 2,394,396

COMBINED AIR JACKET AND TUNING MECHANISM FOR RESONATORS Filed Jilly 18, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Z1 1 1 m 5 Q?) g 6 f 1 m3 1 6 65 4 $1 1 3 m /w Z W x a. M..P//V/V/C7. BY 2 1 Q- "ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 5, 1946 COIWBINED AIR JACKET AND TUNING MECHANISM FOR RESONATORS Ilia E. Mouromtsefi, Montclair, and George M.

Dinnick, Bloomfield, N. J assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 18, 1941, Serial No. 402,959

10 Claims. (Cl. 250-275) Our invention relates to electronic devices and especially to the type of electronic device known as hollow body resonators or oscillators.

- An'object of our invention is to provide a hollow body oscillator or resonator that is easily adiusted.

Another object of ourinvention is to provide combined adjusting and cooling means for a hollow body oscillator or resonator.

Another object of our invention is to provide an inner metal casing and an outer metal casing that will not substantially change their relative positions while heated in operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of a preferred embodiment of our device.

Figs. 2 and 3 are views on lines II-II and III-III of Fig. 1.

Figs. 4, 5 and 11 are views on lines IVIV, V-V and X[--XI of Fig. 3.

Figs. 6, '7, 8, 9 and 10 are views on li-nes VII--VII, VI IIVIII, IX-IX and X-Xof Fig, 4.

While it has other applications, our invention has special application to hollow body oscillators and particularly to those operating with microwaves with frequencies of the order of I0 The prior art devices have, at the most, very clumsy and awkward adjusting means and very little or ineflicient cooling means applied thereto. Our invention provides a very efiicient cooling and adjusting means in which accurate adjustment may be accomplished with the pressure of finger tips.

As disclosed in elevation in Fig. 1 and in cross section in Fig. 3, the device in its specific form,

comprises an outer casing enclosing "two hollow body oscillators with an air space 'therebetween. The outer casing in our preferred form has a central cylindrical portion preferably comprising two shells H and f2 bound together by a supporting band 13.

These shells are preferably of light but strong material, such as aluminum, although coppern'ickel sold under the trade name of Monel might'also be utilized. 'These two shells l I and I2 have curved ends l4 and 'l'5 with alarge cen. tral opening from which project two elongated cylinders I6 and l1 preferably'of the same casing material. The use of the aluminumhas a special advantage in combination with the copper "resonato'rs as ppintedbut below.

Inside of the space enclosed by the shells H and 12 are two hollow body oscillators '20 and 2|.

These hollow body oscillators may have various shapes, but essentially they must be vacuumtight and are preferably of copper in order to be highly electrically and thermally conductive. The copper used in these oscillators has a lower coefficient of expansion than the aluminum in the' outer casing but the higher temperature of the copper in operation makes the copper expand practically the same amount as the outer aluminum casing. There is accordingly no relative change in dimensions of the two casings during operations. The hollow body oscillator 20 is pref er-ably constructed of a cup-shaped copper piece 22 having a bottom flexible wall 23 with a central opening -24 therein. The cup-shaped copper bottom 23 preferably has an in-turned rim '25. about the opening 24 and to the inner edge of this rim is welded a cathode sleeve 26 extending into the space enclosed by the outer cylinder 16. This sleeve is preferably of aluminum. Within this sleeve is the cathode structure 2! which will be hereafter described.

The in-turned rim is preferably turned over at 28 over the edge of this cathode sleeve 26. The cup-shaped copper shell 22 preferably has an edge flange 30 fitting over a somewhat similar cupshape'd shell 34 of the hollow body oscillator 2|. The cup-shaped shell 3| has a flexible bottom portion 32 parallel with the bottom wall '23 of the other hollowbody oscillaton This cup-shaped shell has a similar inturned rim 33 about the opening 36 and an anode sleeve 34 is welded to the interior of this rim 33, and this sleeve extends outwardly into the extension of the cylinder II, The edge of the rim 33 is flanged over the edge of the anode sleeve 34 providing an inturned lip 35 'thereat. The two other boundaries of the hollow body oscillators preferably comprise two frusto-conical members 40 and 4| with their cen-. tral openings 42 and 43 spaced slightly from the openings 24 and 36 of the cup-shaped bodies 22 and 3|. The frusto-c'onical shape of these two bodies curves outwardly into two gradually flattenin'g areas '44 and 45 that have their edges bound under the exterior flange 30 between the edges of the cup-shaped portions.

The cathode sleeve 26 has a ring '50 secured to its exterior edge and this ring has secured thereto a cylinder 5| of a nickel-cobalt-iron alloy sold under the trade name of Kovar which is especially adapted for sealing vacuum-tight into glass. To this cylinder is sealed a reentrant glass seal 52 of borosilicate glass having a press 53 through which are sealed the five leads 54, 55, 56.51., and '58. Two of these leads extend to a heater '59 in the field toclean up this gas. 7

' than two of these getters may be utilized'if de Heat shields 65 and 66 are disclosed in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively. The. I

' cathode itself preferablycomprises a cup-shaped member II! coated on its fiat surface with an electron-emissive coating II, such as the standard barium, strontium and calcium oxide coating. The cup-shaped member 10 and the first heat shield 64 preferably interfit to enclose the heater 63. scribed and within the cathode sleeve 26 is a second cylinder I as a grid support. This cyl- Surrounding the cathode just de'-.

40, 4| and the cup-shaped shell 3 I. The ring I00 supporting the grid structure IIII in the opening of the shell 3i of the resonator 2I, preferably extends for a distance in the collector shell 34 and has two additional grid structures I02 and I03 therein with their legs or spokes spaced around the axis, as disclosed in Fig-:11. This plural grid structure prevents the effect of any secondary emission from the collector from affecting the hollow body resonators. The collector sleeve 34 preferably terminates in a tapered portion I34 terminating in turn into a curved end portion I05. The tapered portion I04 and curved end I05 form the collector for the electrons and inder I5 is supported by standards 16 from a band TI on the reentrant glass seal 52. The grid proper'IB is supported. at the inner portion of the grid cylinder 15 and is closely parallel to the electron-emitting material II on the cup-shaped cathode ID. This grid 18 is preferably of a very light, fine woven mesh'wire, such' as that dis-' closed in Fig. 7. This wire is of approximately 1 or 2 mils and from its similar form is called frequently a stocking meshor grid. This stocking grid'18 has a binding ring 19 securing it in the grid cylinder 1.5. In'order to insure a vacuum inside our device, we preferably include a getter quate cooling are obtained, Weprefer tohave the device air-cooled such as by airblasts pro,

arrangement for absorbing the last traces of gas whichmay be evolved from the walls or other elements of the device after the device has been sealed ofi. We utilize a connection such as the extension of the wire 58 through the press 53 and attach to it at spaced points two getter wires 80 and 8| of different resistances. The resistance of one of these may be four times the other. The other end of these getter wires may be attached to one of the other leads such as the wire 54, making a connection to the grid cylinder 15, as illustrated at 82 in Fig. 3. The wire of low resist ance such as 83 may be flashed first and the other getter 8| is preferably left intact as our ex- 7 perience'has shownthat the device may be overloaded at times and some gas releases from the metal walls or seeps therethrough during this.

overloading. The second getter can be flashed Of course, more sired; 'We also preferably place these gettersin the rear of the heat shields 65 and 66 for the cathode and also preferably provide a shield 84 to prevent the getter material from flashing on th conductors or cathode structure.

In the opening 24 we preferablyinsert a grid such as that disclosed in Fig. 10. This grid 90 comprises a series of fiat ribbons with a bottom portion SI secured to the inner. periphery of a ring 92 attached in turn to the inner edge of the cathode sleeve 25 and peened-over or silver s01- dered to the edge 28 of the cup-shaped shell 22 of the first hollow body resonator. This ribbon may be of copper, molybdenum ortantalum; This ribbon has one leg 93 extending almost to the center of the ring 92, and the other leg v94 pro: jects towards the center a shorter distance, as

disclosed in Fig. 10. A plurality of these grids extends from the periphery of the ring 92 as disclosed in Fig. 10 to provide control of the space the shape is especially designed to prevent the concentration of an electron stream upon any particular area and resulting over-heating of this particular area. a

Two of the main problems of our device are the adjustment of the spacing between the grid openings 24 and 42 of the hollow body resonator 20 and the grid openings at 43 and36 of the hollow body resonator 2|, and also the adequate cooling of the interior hollow body resonators. We'have combinedthe solution of these two prcb-' lems by providing a'structure intermediate. the vacuum-tight enclosed structure and the outer casing whereby both easy adjustment and adevided by a fan IIII located at the collector end of the device. r I

In order to effectively cool the collector I04, we provide the fin arrangement disclosed in Fig- I05 of the collector.

core is longitudinally slotted, as indicated at H4, and a plurality of thin copper fins II5 are fitted into these slots and soldered to the core. The plurality of fins I I5 about the core and collector,

are indicatedin Figure 2. These fins Ilihave Arstud I 20 is screw threaded into a screw-1- threaded exterior hole I2I of the fin core, I I I and preferably soldered therein. The extension I'I of the. exterior casing is sloped inwardly at I22 to form a reduced diameter annular portion I23 about the extension ofthe'stud I20.

an enclosing casing or 7 over this ring I28.

g'to: the interior surface of this extension IBII-of; the adjusting cap I29. ,This arm I 32 has an enwith a minimum of interference with the passage ings 42, 43, and 3a ofthe frusto-conical members A seamless ring I24, preferably'of cold rolled steel, is placed about this annular extensionI23 of the exterior casing, and the casing is peened over this ring at I25. The outer surface of the ring has a groove I26 therein for ball'bearings I21, that are enclosed by a second ring I28, and cap I29, which is spun surrounding the exterior portion I 3| of the stud I20, which extends outwardly. j An arm I32, disclosed more fully in Figure 2, extends across the diameter of this outer extension I30 and hasenlarged curved ends I33 which arescrew-threaded larged' central portion I34, which is screw- 7 threaded to the stud I20. The adjusting cap 129' can be turned in either direction and this turning The case or cap I29 has'an outer extension I30 7 action will exert through the screw-threaded connection of the arm I32, a push orpull on the stud I26 to adjust through the plug III and the collector I64, the position of the grid MI, in respect to the grid 43 adjacent the free field space between the two hollow body resonators.

In order to form a fulcrum on the hollow body resonator 2I, a ring I46 is curved to bear against the outer curved'surface of the resonator cap 3|. This ring has a substantially triangular cross-- section except for the slightly curved side bearing on the cap 3 I. To one side of this ring are welded a plurality of fiat plates MI, and the outer surface of these plates are supported in turn by a ring I42, having a diameter equal to the diameter of the casing portion I1. Screws I43 can conveniently bind the extension I1 and cap I5, and the ring I42 together.

The radial positions of the fins I'4I, permit the circulation of air around the outer surface of the two hollow body resonators after this air has passed through the fins II5. A similar arrangement of ring I45, fins I46 and ring I41 extends between the curved edge of the resonator cap 22 and the casing. The extension I6 and cap II of the outer casing are bound together and to the ring I41 by screws I48.

The extension I6 of the casing slopes at I49 to an annular portion I56, that has an adjusting arrangement similar to the anode or collector end of thecasing and composed of ring I5I,ba1lbearings I52, ring I63 and adjusting cap I54, with its extension I55 having thegcross arm I56 in screw threaded adjustment with a stud I51 similar to the corresponding parts just described in connection with the other end of the casing.

The structure for both adjusting the openings of the hollow body resonator 26 and for cooling the cathode casing, are disclosed in Figures 3, 4; and 5. We have previously described the sleeve 26 enclosing the cathode and terminating in the grid 96 of the hollow body resonator 26.

To the outer surface of this cathode-enclosing sleeve 26, are welded the bottom portion I66 of a plurality of narrow U-shaped fins I6I'. The outer edges of these fins are slotted at I62 in order to have a binding ring I63, surrounding and securing them rigidly in radial position, about the sleeve 26. To this ring I63 is secured a casing I64 having extension I65 slightly reduced in diameter and extending near to the termination of the outer casing I6. A U-shaped support I66 is rigidly attached to this casing, such as by screws I61 illustrated in Figure 3. The stud I51 is securely attached to the central portion I68 of this u-shaped support I66.

At one portion of the outer casing I6, there is an opening I16 and a marker I1I is attached to the inner casing I65 to indicate the position thereof, in respect to the outer casing.

For further convenience a scale I12 may be attached to the outer casing with respect to the indicator IN. A similar indicator I15 is attached to one of the fins II5 about the anode collector and projects through an opening I16 to indicate on a similar scale I11, the position of the collector in respect to the outer casing.

For the adjustment of the openings of 24 and 42 of the hollow body resonator, the adjusting cap I54 and its associated parts are revolved in one direction or the other. I

The fulcrum is made through the outer casing extension I6, ring I41, fins or vanes I46, and ring I45, upon the curved outer edge of the flexible copper shell I23. The pushing or pulling force nected to a concentric transmission line.

of the adjusting cap is exerted through the arm I56; stud I51, U-shaped arm I66, casing I65, vanes I6I and sleeve 26, to move the grid opening 24 nearer to or spaced further from the grid 42. A similar adjusting action of the openings 36 and 43 of theh'ollow body resonator 2I by the adjusting cap I29 and its associated elements are accompanied by using a fulcrum composed of the outer casing I1, ring I42, vanes MI and ring I46, bearing on the outer curved edge of the flexible cap 3I of the resonator 2I. The pulling or pushing force is exerted through the arm I32, stud I26, core III, collector I 64, sleeve 34 to the grid IN, to push it closer to the grid opening 43 or to pull it further therefrom. These elements not only adjust the positions of the openings in the hollow body resonator, but also cooperate to provide a very efficient cooling operation for the device. The air from the fan I I6 passes through the fins II5 to the adjacent end of the hollow body resonator 2| and then through the vanes I4I about the outer cylindrical edge of the resonator 2| and 26, then through the vanes I46 to the vanes I BI and then passes through the space between the cathode sleeves 56, 5I and on the enclosing casing I65 to the exit provided by the extension I 55 of the adjusting cap I54.

Various loops 266, .26I, 262 and more, if desired, may be placed in the resonators for the purpose of feeding ultra high wave frequency from an outside source into the resonators or of taking it from the resonators. We generally use two of these loops such as 266-, 26I to feed back osc'illations from one resonator to the other by any desired transmission line. The type and adjustments or thetransmission lines willgovern the phase and amplitude of the oscillations. The loops preferably comprise a conductor 263 forming the loop and passing through an opening 264 in the copper casing. A sleeve 265 of metal alloy, preferably that sold under the trade name Monel is silver soldered to the copper. A sleeve 266 of nickel-cobalt-iron alloy sold under the trade name of Kovar is Welded to the first sleeve and a plug 261 of borosilicate glass seals vacuum tight the space between the sleeve 266 and the conductor 263 which has an exterior portion 268. A metal bar 269 may be placed on this portion 268 to make contact with the exterior portion 2I6 of loop 2!" and the bar 269 shifted along 268 and 2I6 to the most desired position. In place of this construction the portions 268 and 2I6 may be made into loops similar to 266 and 26I and coupled to similar loops con- The length of this transmission line and the angles between the loops will regulate the amplitude and phase of the oscillations.

Because of the higher temperature of operation of the copper resonators there is no relative change in position with respect to the aluminum outer casing with its higher coefficient of expansion but lower temperature. The fine adjustments of the positions of the grids '96 and II having a flexible wall with an opening therein for tween the outer portion of said flexible walls and the casing. V

2. An electronic device comprising two joined hollow body resonators, one of said resonators having a flexible wall having an opening for the entrance of electrons therein, the other resonator having: a flexible wall with an opening'therein for the emergence of the electrons, a casing enclosingsaid resonators and spaced therefrom for circulation of a cooling medium about said resonators, adjusting means betweensaid resonators and said casing for each said resonator, said adlusting means having a rotatable cap, one at each end of the casing, and having indicators showin sleeve position as adjustment is made by rotating said caps.

' enclosing itsrespeotive resonator opening, fins on each of said sleeves, a bearing ring around the outer portion of each outer flexible Wall, -flns connected to said bearing rings, a casing enclos ing said resonators, sleeves and fins, means attaching said casing to the bearing ring fins, and

anti-friction adjusting means on said casing for operating on said sleeves to position the openings in said outer walls. V 7

4. An electronic device comprising a hollow body resonator havinga flexible wall, said wall having a part thereof depressed and said depressed part of the wall having its end flanged inward and providing allip thereat and said lip providing an opening therethrough into the in-,

terior of said resonator, a sleeve exterior to the resonator and securedin said depressed part of the wall against saidlip, and adjusting means having connection withsaid sleeve for thereby applying flexing pressure to said wall to regulate the position of said opening. I V g 5. An electronic device comprising-a hollow body resonator having a flexible wall, said wall having a part thereof depressed and said depressed part of the wall having an opening into: 7 the interior of said resonator, a sleeve exterior to the resonator and secured in said depressed part of the wall about said opening, a fixed ring having a bearing surface against said flexible wall at a-clistance from said sleeve, and adjusting means for flexing the part of said wall between said ring and sleeve and having connection with said sleeve determining the position of said opening.

6. An electronic device comprising a hollow body resonator having a flexible wall, said wall having a circular depression and having an open'- ing into the interior of said resonator, a sleeve construction exterior to the resonator and secured in said depression about 'said opening, a

'ring having a bearing surface against said flexible wall, a casing enclosing said resonator and sleeve, means anchoring said rin to said casing, and adjusting means having connection with said j sleeve and casing to regulate the position'of said opening.

7. An electronic device comprising a hollow body resonator having a flexibl wall,.said wall having 'a'circular depression and having an'opena ing into said hollow body resonator, a sleeve construction exterior to the resonator and secured a casing enclosing said resonator and sleeve, mean anchoring said ring to said casing, and

adjusting means having'threaded connection with saidsleeve and exerting a thrust longitudinally of said casing to regulate the position of said opening, said adjusting means including an an'tifriction bearing between said casing and adjusting means. o

8. An electronic device comprising a hollow body resonator having a'flexible wall, said wall having a circular depressionin saidflexible wall having an opening into the hollow body of said resonator, a'sleeve construction exterior tothe' resonator and secured i'n'said depression about said opening, a ring bearing against said flexible wall, a casing enclosing said resonator and sleeve, means anchoring saidring to said 'casingy adjusting means connected with-said sleeve and casing to regulate the position of said opening,

said adjustingjmeans including an anti-friction bearing on said casing, a screw-threaded shaft attached to said sleeve, and an arm having'a about said opening; a collector electrode attached 7 r to said'sleeve, a ring having a bearing surface against. said flexible wall, and adjusting means depression having an opening into said resof nator, a sleeve secured to said wall in said depres-v sion about said opening, a fixed ring bearing against said flexible wall next the circumference thereof entirely. around thesame and radially spaced from the sleeve, said sleeve terminating in a collector for electrons passing through said opening and adjusting means at the end of said sleeve for operating on said sleeve and flexible wall to adjust the position of said opening.-

GEORGE DINNICK. 

